SAFE CUSTODY

" I couldn't say/' said I. " The room itself wa? in
darkness, but some' light outside was shining under
the door.1'
" That's better than the postern," said Palin. " I
know those gates. They bar one end of a passage,
and the other's kept by a door about two feet thick.
And now what about it ? Do we enter the castle
tp-night ? Or only go for the car ? "
After some discussion we held to the plan we had
made. That Harris would stick at nothing we had
no doubt, and while he was armed, we had not a
pistol between us with which we could hold him in
check. Until we were armed, however far we might
get, any one of the gang could hold the four of us up,
and then our state would be worse than it had been
the night before.
'" To-morrow night/' said Hubert. "When Harris
has gone to bed. . We can watch the lights go out
and then come down to the valley and walk upstairs."
" If we get the car/1 said Palin, " I can't help feeling
they'll sleep pretty light for a while, I know I should.
Never mind Where were we before all this ? Oh,
I know. Down in the forest something stirred. It
was only a b—bird. Was it ? "
" It was some animal," said I. " I don't know
what."
Nor do I to this day, But whatever it was, it did
us a very good turn, for, had we not heard its move-
ment as we went by, we should never have dreamed
of a means of access to the castle which stood us in
very good stead.
Hubert and Palin had found a bridge over the stream,
and ten minutes later we were climbing up to the road
fay the side of the fall
64